For skaters such as myself, it’s unfortunate that skateboarding games are few and far between. Thankfully, UK indie developer Roll7 saw this void in the genre as an opportunity to not only deliver something for those who love the thrill of skating, but for people who like arcade-style games where high scores matter. OlliOlli is the name of the studio’s biggest game yet, and it’s as unique as it is good extreme sport fun.
Similar to real skateboarding, landing tricks is the goal in OlliOlli, and as with skateboarding that’s a lot harder than it looks. Pulling off maneuvers like the kickflip requires different variations of moving the left analog stick to scoop the board, and trigger buttons (or keyboard keys) to spin. With these two simple inputs, you can accomplish about 80% of the skateboarding tricks out there, including big spins and laser flips. Although this control scheme might sound like EA’s Skate series, and it certainly resembles it far more than Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, it feels nothing like it thanks to how the game handles landing.
It’s one thing to be able to flip the board, but it’s another to be able to land square on the bolts. OlliOlli replicates this 2 step process by requiring you to press a button right before landing. If you choose to be lazy with it, you’ll lose all your trick points due to a sloppy landing, reducing your momentum and possibly even leading to a level-ending bail. The same applies to grinding ledges and rails, making this a game of timing and finesse.
It takes a good hour or so to get used to the controls. I’m not going to sugar coat it, this game is tough. The helpful albeit brief tutorial gives you the knowledge you need, but building the muscle memory required to complete all the objectives on each level requires practice. As negative as that might sound, the controls are OlliOlli‘s greatest asset. They make pulling off huge combos and resulting high scores feel rewarding, and the skill cap is quite high giving you a lot of room for improvement. I would prefer an option for using the right analog stick, though.
Although the game is now on PC, you might want to think twice about playing it with a keyboard. This is a game designed to be played with a controller, so much that it warns you when you launch the game if you don’t have a controller plugged-in. That said, you can play it on a keyboard, just expect to have an even tougher time completing objectives.
The journey from beginning to end in Career mode spans five different areas, each with several levels. Levels take anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute and a half to run through, and present five objectives each. The objectives bring back memories of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater during its prime where you always feel like there was always something interesting to do. While finishing a level will let you advance to the next, what you really want to do is knock out all objectives on each level to unlock their Pro versions, with their much increased difficulty and new objectives. This design lends itself well to making the game beatable for those are impatient with its tough design, but rewards players who like to conquer challenges.
Outside of Career, there is also a Spot mode which essentially acts as a way to compete with others for leaderboard space. If you find yourself hopelessly addicted to OlliOlli‘s mechanics, and there’s a chance that might happen, this is where you’ll get the most long-term value from the game as it’s your only way of showing off your skill to other players.
The presentation in OlliOlli is sharp and true to skateboarding spirit. The environments are reminiscent of the best that flash games have to offer, with an intuitive menu system. Made better, skating to a variety of well-chosen tracks makes OlliOlli an exciting affair.
With only five different worlds, there isn’t much in the way of variety, and that ultimately is where OlliOlli falters. The game only lasted me a good two hours before I felt like I was constantly doing the same thing. This is a game that could benefit greatly from an open-world of sorts, where there’s another layer of gameplay and interaction beyond simple menus and skating on a left-to-right 2D plane.
Barring its repetitiveness, OlliOlli is a great indie game that delivers its unique touch on video gaming’s skateboarding genre. If you’re a skater, or enjoy skateboarding games, it’s a solid indie purchase that will make you eager to pull off big moves.
Jonathan Leack is the Gaming Editor for CraveOnline. You can follow him on Twitter @jleack.
Copy provided by publisher. OlliOlli is available on PC and Vita. PS3 and PS4 versions will release later this year.
